BRATISLAVA. Arriving at the Slovak national hockey team before leaving the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, one of the players had a positive coronavirus test, forward Peter Cehlárik. The official member of the Slovak Ice Hockey Association (SZĽH) informs about it.
Other hockey players have already passed tests with a negative result and also the first training on the ice.
“Today we had eleven players and two goalkeepers in training. So far it is very good, except for Petr Cehlárik, who was positive. We will monitor his development from day to day and decide what to do next in his case,” said the assistant. general manager of the team Oto Haščák on the website HockeySlovakia.sk.
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Mário Grman, Martin Gernát, Martin Pospíšil, Marko Daňo, Martin Marinčin, Miloš Roman and Michal Krištof have already joined the Slovak team on Sunday, but they have only one test behind them and are not in contact with the rest of the team yet. They could train on Tuesday.
“Altogether we have 21 players at our disposal. Four more from the Czech extra league will come, but they will come directly to us in Beijing on the fourth of February,” added Haščák.
A substantial part of the Slovak hockey team will travel to China on Wednesday, February 2.
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The national team of the Slovak Republic had its first meeting on Saturday, the players had two days in the hotel room.
“I was very happy. I missed hockey. My hand is fine now. I was ready to play sooner, unfortunately the covid stopped it. I’m well prepared. Last month I just rode on the ice and worked out in the gym. I had quasi-summer training. “I didn’t feel Covid, thank you,” said striker Samuel Takáč.
The young defender Samuel Kňažko arrived in Slovakia from the USA and is still struggling with a time lag.
“I had a little heavier legs. My hands didn’t work with my legs. But it certainly worked for everyone. There were only eleven of us on the ice, but tomorrow another one will join and we will be in full force,” he said.
Already in the venue of the Olympic Games, the Slovaks will take part in a preparatory duel against the Germans (7.2.) And then there will be competitions against the Finns, Swedes and Latvians (February 10, 11 and 13).
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